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Leave the bondage

GYE Corp. Tuesday, 15 May 2012

G-d Sent Moses to Pharaoh to take the Jews out of Egypt. However, the first time that Moses speaks to him, Pharaoh replies "I do not know your G-d, and I will not let them out". Instead, Pharaoh makes the work even harder. Moses returns to G-d and complains to him saying "ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, it has become worse for this nation - and you haven't saved them at all". G-d answers Moses, "Now you shall see what I shall do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand I will send them out, and with a strong hand I shall banish them from this land".

What kind of answer was this to Moses? After all, Moses doesn't understand why things had gotten worse ever since he came and spoke in G-d's name. But instead of explaining to Moses why things got worse, G-d seems to ignore the question and simply replies, "you shall see..."?

The Medrash explains that G-d was telling Moses that the Jews themselves don't want to leave Egypt. G-d was telling Moses, "you want to know why it's getting worse for the Jews? You shall see, that even when it comes time for them to leave, I shall have to take them out with a strong hand, with sticks I shall have to chase them, and with a strong hand I will need to banish them from the land". In other words, even AFTER it becomes worse, even after they "hit bottom", I will still need to banish them from Mitzrayim by force. And indeed, during the plague of darkness, it says in the Medrash that many, many Jews died. These were Jews who didn't want to leave the bondage of Egypt, even after it had gotten worse.

This narrative gives us a glimpse into the process of breaking free from our own personal bondage. When we first start to fight our evil inclination and we come to him in G-d's name, he says to us "Who is G-d? I don't know G-d and I won't let you break free". Instead, it often becomes even harder for the person. He can get depressed, become more addicted, and things in life may start suddenly to fall apart. Why is this? Exactly when we are trying to start the journey to the "Promised Land" - is this G-d's help to us? The answer is, G-d is speeding up the process for us. He wants to show us how bitter it is to be a slave to the evil one. Sometimes, we need to "hit bottom" before we can be ready to break free and start over. And even then, we often need to be taken out with a "Strong Hand".

We can only be worthy of this miracle of Yetziat Mitzrayim though, if we truly want to leave. Even if we are not always acting consistently, we need to want deep in our hearts to break free. We will need to cry out in pain from the bondage of our souls to the Klippot (husks) of Mitzrayim. Never stop praying, not even in the darkest moments. For it is precisely in these dark moments that G-d hears us and remembers us, as it says about the Jews in Egypt "and they sighed deeply from the hard work and they cried out to G-d, and G-d heard their cries and remembered".

The same G-d that took us out of Egypt thousands of years ago, takes each and every one of us on a similar personal journey in our lifetime on this earth. And G-d is just as mighty today as he was then. So put your trust in him and "let go and let G-d".